Bristol airport is trialling an electric airside bus in a bid to reduce airport operating emissions.
Airport mobility company Cobus Industries has supplied the electric vehicle, which has the capacity to carry up to 110 customers and will operate between the terminal building and aircraft.
The fully electric vehicle includes “state-of-the-art features to maximise safety and comfort”. The airport will use the trial to study the operating benefits of the bus and compare it to its existing fleet.
Last month Bristol airport announced plans to become net zero by 2030, and announced a partnership with Easyjet to trial initiatives aimed at decarbonising its operations and reducing waste.
COBUS Industries GmbH, Germany, Patricia Vasconcelos, CEO said:
“We are all living in a fast moving, noisy and frantically busy environment and are facing enormous challenges in all areas of our private and professional lives. One of the busiest places for both business and private trips are the airports, conglomerates of different cultures and personal needs. Today’s challenges in terms of sustainability and environmentally friendly technologies are intrinsic goals for airport authorities, airlines and ground handling companies.
“The team of COBUS Industries, manufacturer of the COBUS airfield bus, is following this movement with large ambitions and high motivation to offer passengers the best possible comfort in our COBUS airfield bus and help our customers to drive their ambitious goals towards environmental protection, sustainability and future-oriented technologies on airports.”
James Shearman, Head of Sustainability at Bristol Airport, added:
“We are committed to embedding sustainability principles into the way we work every day, the way we develop and the way we collaborate. We are delighted to be working with COBUS Industries in helping deliver our sustainability targets and reducing airport emissions. This is only one project we are working on to achieve being a Net Zero Airport operation by 2030.”
